The Animal Core facilitates the care of mouse models for research on biological aging

Core Leader: Cheryl Ackert-Bicknell

Mouse Strains

The Core maintains sets of mice for median and maximum lifespan and healthspan studies.

In the first phase of the Center, the Core aged and obtained lifespan data for 3038 mice across 32 inbred strains. In addition, the Core also euthanized mice at 6, 12 and 20 months for the cross sectional study of the 32 strains (90 mice/strain), and supported the development of new aging models. The 32 inbred strains are listed in the following table:

In the current phase of the Center, the Core is focusing on increasing the genetic diversity of mouse resources available for aging research.

Lifespan and Healthspan studies

Animals within the Core are divided into two groups:

Longitudinal group – provides life span data for each strain. In addition, selected non-invasive phenotypes, including immune aging, renal function, neuron/muscle function, etc, are also measured in this group by the Healthspan Core.

Cross-sectional group – ensures data on all ages (young, middle-aged, and old) are available to researchers at the same time. Selected invasive phenotypes are measured by the Healthspan Core in young, middle and old aged mice to investigate changes with age from the DNA to the organ level.